Flag-Cakes
by mariteri
Summary: It's Flag day in the Sheldon/Penny household. And Sheldon made breakfast, inviting some friends over to celebrate. One-shot. Rated T for language. I still don't own TBBT or its characters, nor do I make money from the posting of this fanfic. Bummer.


Howdy! I have a little one shot here in answer to my own challenge for Flag day. Enjoy and review!

Penny woke up at the sound of Sheldon knocking at her door. Looking at the time, she wondered what could be so damn important to wake her before eleven. True enough, he had asked her to take this day off and she had thought nothing of doing just that. It wasn't like he did so all the time. No, in fact, he was the one that had her coffee in her hand and out the door more times than not as usually she was barely functioning in the mornings. But she had hoped to at least get a much wanted lie in.

Grumbling to herself, she got up and went over to the door. Once it was open, she found herself covered in small paper streamers.

"Happy Flag day, Penny!" he cheered.

"Flag day?" she asked.

"Yes, Flag day!" When she didn't respond, he asked, "You need coffee, don't you?"

"When don't I at…" She looked at her alarm clock. "Seven in the morning?" She looked to him. "Seven? Really?"

"It's Flag day," he said, deflating slightly.

"I know, sweetie," she told him. "And I'll try to be more enthusiastic about it once I get some caffeine in my system. Did you make the coffee?"

"Yes," he said with a grin. "And pancakes with different flag designs with corresponding spreads and syrups that are the colors of the flags themselves!"

"Wow," she murmured. "Let me get my robe and I'll be right down."

"No going back to bed?" he asked.

"I'll try not to, but if I trip and fall back into bed, would you consider it an accident and not be upset?"

He gave her a flat look, trooped into the room, got her robe and handed it over to her.

Penny looked from it and back over to him. "I'll take that as a no to the accident and a big old yes to the upset." She slipped it on and proceeded to follow him over to the kitchen.

Once there, she was shocked to hear people in the dining area. She opened the door from the kitchen and saw Howard and Bernadette picking out different pancakes and some sausages as well. Several others were there too, but her mind was just too muddled at the moment to recall if she knew them or not.

"Hey, sleepy head!" Bernadette called out. "We all called out sick today. Raj should be here soon. He had some car troubles." Sheldon came over and slipped her coffee into her hands.

"Go sit down," he murmured. "I'll have your pancakes out soon."

"Okay," she said, and drifting into the eating area to sit with her friends.

Sipping on her coffee, she let out a jaw cracking yawn as she settled into her chair.

"You know when we first heard that you two were going to be moving in together, I thought you'd murder Sheldon and bury his body in an unmarked grave by now," Howard said, cutting his pancakes. "But here it is approximately ten months later and you haven't even marred him once." Looking over to her, he asked, "Blink twice if you need help. We're here for you…"

Bernadette hit his shoulder playfully, snapping, "Stop it!" Giggling she looked over to Penny, who was clearly nowhere near awake. "So what's it like living with Sheldon?"

"You keep asking that," Penny said. "And I keep saying the same thing. It's fine. We're good."

"But how is it that you can get along? He has so many rules and regulations that it's impossible to get along with him sometimes!" Howard exclaimed.

She thought it over. "We have weekly meetings, going over what's coming up that week. We review our work schedules and when it's more convenient for me to drive him or for him to walk. Now that we're living closer to the university, he has that option. On nights when I have to work, he usually packs me up a dinner to take with me. On nights he is, as he says, 'Struggling with the mind of his mother's supposed God to give up the secrets of the universe' I usually take his dry ink markers away from him after midnight, give him something warm to drink, and we watch Star Trek until we both fall asleep in the living room."

"Is he any closer to getting the answers he wants?" Howard inquired.

"It's not about attaining the answers I want, Howard, it's about sussing out the correct ones," Sheldon said, as he put a plate of pancakes in front of Penny along with her favorite sausages. "And no, I have yet to get them."

"You made me a Nebraska state flag!" Squinting at it, she asked, "How were you able to get such fine details?"

"It was no easy task," he said, neglecting to mention that he had gone through twelve pancakes just to get the one on the top of her pile that he was happy with. "But between the several YouTube videos and my Meemaw's sure fire pancake recipe, it appears to be a success."

He fetched his own breakfast along with the maple syrup. Handing it over to Penny, he looked over to Howard and Bernadette. "Did you set up what I asked you for?"

"Highlights of 'Fun with Flags' is set up in the living room along with the projector," Howard said, just as Raj joined them.

"Sorry I'm late, but my car…" He made a noise of frustration.

"You know I can get you a good deal for a new one," Penny told him. "Or if you want another used one…"

"I think I'll go with a new one," he interrupted her. "Where are the pancakes?" They all pointed towards the breakfast bar and he rushed off to get some food.

"Speaking of cars," Penny said. "I just got a new Buick." She sipped on her coffee and went on with, "I think we had an easier time finding a house than we did picking out a car." Her eyes flickered over to Sheldon. "We started looking for one after the pirate party and we just got the car last week."

"Pardon me for having a high standard of safety!" Sheldon muttered.

"Sweetie, I was only saying it took a long time," she told him. "I wasn't complaining. Really. True, I wished it happened faster, but that had more to do with Leonard demanding the car back and being a general pain in my ass than you taking your time." When he looked over to her, she added, "I want to be safe too, you know."

"If that were the case, you would take the driver's safety course that I recommended."

"Hey, I drive defensively!"

"No, you drive _offensively_. There's a difference," Sheldon told her.

She scowled at him before muttering, "Shut up. You don't even know how to drive."

His eyes narrowed and asked, "Coin flip?"

She nodded. "Coin flip."

He pulled out a half dollar and flipped it. Looking at the coin, he said, "I won. You're wrong."

Rolling her eyes, she went back to fixing her pancakes and said, "Sorry I was rude to you about the driving business."

"I accept," he said, smiling to himself as he too went about fixing his food.

Bernadette leaned over and asked Howard, "Are we in an alternative universe?"

"I don't think so," he answered. "But even if we were, something tells me we're going to be enjoying the ride."

Laughing they clinked mugs and went back to eating their flags.

The End


End file.
